- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what support is being provided to (a) Inverurie Medical Practice and (b) Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership, to ensure that the population of Inverurie will continue to receive primary care services, following the decision of the GP practice partners to end their contract with NHS Grampian.
Answer
The Scottish Government provides an annual allocation to Health Boards to meet the costs of providing general medical services either through contracting with GP practices or directly by Health Boards. NHS Grampian will continue to receive an appropriate level of funding based on the practice’s registered patients.
Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership and NHS Grampian are keeping my officials abreast of developments.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many hours per week the Women's Health Champion is contracted to work in her role, and when her tenure is expected to end.
Answer
Professor Anna Glasier OBE was appointed as the first Women’s Health Champion for Scotland on 26 January 2023.
Professor Glasier has been contracted to work four days a month, with her tenure coming to an end in June 2024.
Professor Glasier recently published her first Women’s Health Champion update blog which can be found here: Health and Social Care My first update as Women's Health Champion - Health and Social Care (blogs.gov.scot)
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 28 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to support women at risk of osteoporosis around the time of menopause.
Answer
The Women’s Health Plan includes a medium-term action to “ensure women are properly supported around the time of menopause to assess their future risk of osteoporosis and fractures and given appropriate lifestyle advice” and action is being taken to progress this work.
On 5 th April, Professor Anna Glasier, the Women’s Health Champion, met with the Royal Osteoporosis Society to discuss the higher risk of osteoporosis for women and the impact that this has on their health outcomes in later life.
In addition, accessible information has been made available to women via the menopause resource on the NHS Inform Women’s Health Platform. The resource highlights that women who have been through menopause are at an increased risk of developing osteoporosis as a result of the lower level of oestrogen in the body and provides advice on what women can do to reduce their chances of developing osteoporosis. Information is included on lifestyle changes like exercise and nutrition to improve bone health as well as advice on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).
The Scottish Government has also commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to create a bespoke training package and framework focussed on menopause and menstrual health for GPs and others working in Primary Care. This package will take a life course approach, including ensuring healthcare professionals are able to support women in being aware of the risk of osteoporosis around the time of menopause – and what can help.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether an assessment has made been of the distance women have to travel to access obstetrics and gynaecology services in rural and remote areas in Scotland, and, if so, what the median travel distance is, and how many consultant obstetrician and gynaecologists have been recruited across all NHS boards in each of the past five years.
Answer
We recognise the challenges facing remote and rural NHS Boards in balancing paramount safety considerations with the delivery of care as close to home as practicable. Work is ongoing to ensure that services are developed in a flexible way, recognising local population needs and geographic challenges. We expect NHS Boards to engage constructively with local communities in this and understand that there is significant community engagement work already underway across remote and rural NHS Board areas.
Figures for median travel distance for obstetric and/ or gynaecology services are not collected centrally. The requested Information on how many obstetrics and gynaecology consultants have been recruited across all NHS Boards in each of the past 5 years can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence . NHS Boards are responsible for planning and delivering local services, including maternity services. This includes planning where those services should be located, based on local population need and any geographic challenges, and staff recruitment.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its commitment in the Women's Health Plan 2021-24 to improve access to "speedy diagnosis" for endometriosis, in light of reports that the current average diagnosis time is eight and a half years from the onset of symptoms.
Answer
We are committed to delivering on the priority in the Women's Health Plan (WHP) to improve access for women to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis.
There has been substantial progress since the publication of the Women’s Health Plan and our first report on progress, published on 26 January 2023, sets this out in more detail.
We will support the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme to raise awareness of the Endometriosis Pathway for Scotland. The pathway was approved in January 2023 and will be distributed to all NHS Boards for implementation. It provides a streamlined, integrated pathway across primary, secondary and tertiary care that aims to provide a holistic approach and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms.
We will also continue to work with our Endometriosis Advisory Group and Lived Experience Forum to support and inform our policy actions to deliver on the priorities within the plan.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its aim to eliminate hepatitis C in Scotland by 2024.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains fully committed to achieving the elimination of Hepatitis C in Scotland by the end of the 2024/25 financial year.
Scotland already has a renowned approach for tackling Hepatitis C, with NHS Tayside eliminating it within the health board area, 11 years ahead of the World Health Organisation (WHO) target.
The last Public Health Scotland report (2022) demonstrated the major progress that has been made so far; for example, the prevalence of a chronic Hepatitis C infection amongst people who inject drugs has almost halved between 2015 and 2020 and there has been as much as a 70% reduction in some parts of Scotland. In addition 80% of individuals with a chronic hepatitis C infection have also been initiated onto treatment, exceeding the World Health Organisations treatment target.
However, we know that to achieve elimination and meet our target will take a concerted effort on a national scale. We will continue to proactively collaborate with the Hepatitis C Elimination Implementation Strategy Group to ascertain where our support is most required as we work towards our goal of elimination.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the report, Women’s Health Plan: A Report on Progress, whether it will provide an update on Action 32 of the Women's Health Plan, which is to commission research on the cause of endometriosis.
Answer
We are jointly funding a £250,000 endometriosis research project with the charity Wellbeing of Women. The research project, which will primarily be run by researchers at The University of Edinburgh, will look at the drug dichloroacetate in the management of endometriosis-associated pain.
Additionally, in January 2023 our Chief Scientist Office announced funding for the ENDOCAN project, led by researchers at The University of Edinburgh. Through a large scale UK-wide trial, the research will investigate whether a cannabinoid can reduce endometriosis-associated pain. Funding of £299,509 has been committed to this 30 month project.
The Chief Scientist Office is also currently inviting applications for Applied Health Research Programmes . An applied health research programme is envisaged to comprise a coherent group of inter-related projects that together can have a high level of direct impact to address an important Scottish population health or NHS challenge within the lifetime of the programme or soon thereafter.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking alongside NHS Scotland to address the reported delay in issuing cervical screening results from both of the laboratories located in Scotland, and whether it will provide a breakdown of the current backlog of cervical cancer screenings in each NHS board.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware of delays in issuing cervical screening results. Currently 75% of individuals are receiving their screening results within the recommended 14 days from the date that the sample was taken; however, we recognise that some individuals are experiencing delays of up to eight weeks as a result of ongoing staffing pressures faced by both cervical screening laboratories.
The Scottish cervical screening programme is working on a number of measures to address this. This includes a review of internal processes to ensure all staff who can report cervical cytology spend the maximum time possible at the microscope. In addition, digital technologies are being explored to increase overall reporting capacity.
The Scottish Government does not hold information on individual health board backlogs.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress towards increasing the number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that have a defibrillator applied before the ambulance service arrive from 8% to 20%, as outlined in Scotland's Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy 2021-2026.
Answer
The Scottish Government is a key partner in Save a Life for Scotland (SALFS), a partnership including the emergency services, third sector organisations and academic researchers. SALFS is responsible for the delivery of the Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Strategy 2021 to 2026 . Data on progress of the strategy is available at; Scotland’s Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Report 2019 – 2022 .
SALFS approach to increasing the number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that have a defibrillator applied before the ambulance service arrive from 8% to 20%, is to ensure that defibrillators are publicly accessible, registered and there is a data driven approach to their placement.
Work underway includes the SCOT-PAD project, to develop a tool to support organisations and communities with more evidence on the optimal location to place their defibrillator. Progress is also being made in registration of defibrillators with the number of defibrillators in communities across Scotland that are registered with the Circuit doubling since 2019 to almost 5,000.
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support local authorities to ensure that the provision of local services, including swimming pools and leisure centres, meets the needs of local communities.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023
